Praying in the Face of Danger

When believers in Christ call upon the name of the Lord, with the right spiritual posture and the proper attitude, with clean hearts before Him, we can have an expectation that He hears us and that He will work according to His will. There is something supernatural and powerful that happens as we pray individually, and collectively, led by the Spirit of God. Jesus taught in Matthew 18:
18 Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.
19 Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven.
20 For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them."

On the political front, of course, there is great concern about China and the threats it poses.  And, the speculation is that Taiwan, an island nation about which the Chinese Communist leadership desires to reclaim as its own, is in grave danger of an attack by China.  This is an anticipated event that will demand a response by the U.S. - and there seems to be no shortage of discussion about what America will do if and when it occurs.

Taiwanese Christians are preparing - in a powerful way!  A CBN.com article recently reported:

The tiny island off the mainland coast is now facing almost daily Chinese military harassment. "Taiwan is beefing up its military and training with new U.S. weapons," reported CBS News, as its military prepares for possible full-scale war.

While the war drums grow louder by day, Taiwan's Christians are taking to their knees by night.

The article quoted Brian Lu, who serves as pastor of Shekinah House of Bread of Life in the capitol of Taipei, who said: "The united prayers and fasting prayers of the churches in Taiwan are much more than ever before. It's an unprecedented prayer movement..."  CBN says: "All across this island, people are meeting every day, 24 hours a day, to pray for revival, unity, repentance, and protection over their land."

Gordon Huang is pastor of what the article describes as "one of Taiwan's most well-known congregations; he said: "I believe something so simple is starting to have such a huge impact upon people in the church and also the people around the church..." He also said, "I think one thing for sure is that people are going to be so shaken and people will want to hear the Gospel. Are you ready or are you going to be on the run yourself?"

Don Young, who was a missionary in West Africa, related that the Lord had spoken to him about a coming "shaking," something he shared with church leaders.  That led to the founding of what the article termed as a "movement" called Revival Prayer Group, or RPG.

Young said: "Prayer is the only way that you can get through anything shaking," adding, "Jesus said everything by prayer. He did nothing apart from prayer. Before it was just kind of a moment with God, we all have them, but now it was shaping up to become a movement for God. There's a huge difference between a moment and a movement."

And Pastor Lu touts the importance of RPG groups being small; because of that, he said: "...if one day a war happens and there are no physical buildings that people can meet in, we can still pray in small groups so the church will not be affected..."

How widespread is this movement?  CBN reports there are over 40,000 RPG's and since there are about five people to a group, that means around 200,000 people are in these prayer groups - representing a powerful force.   

Pastor Huang said: "Many people came and joined RPG because they heard testimonies of how God is answering prayer so you have a lot of unbelieving people joining RPG and as they open their mouths and prayer, they experience the Lord so they are coming to the Lord as well..." And Pastor Lu was quoted as saying: "We ask churches around the world to pray for this most dangerous place in the world today so that God's peace can come upon cross-strait relations," adding, "Ethnic Chinese should not kill one another, but instead, we should together fulfill the end-time missions' movement, to bring the Gospel back to Jerusalem."

Certainly, residents of Taiwan are feeling the ever-present threat of mainland Communist China, which has designs on taking over the island nation. Believers are leading the way by calling upon the Lord for safety in the midst of this danger. 

What is interesting, as Pastor Lu had asked for prayer for what he calls "cross-strait relations," is that there are millions and millions of Christians across the strait in mainland China - the Church is growing there in a tremendous way - at some point, perhaps believers in China will be used of the Lord to bring down the ambitious Chinese government, which has demonstrated hostility to committed Christians living there. That would bring peace to the region. 

The Taiwanese Christians can be an inspiration to us when we face fearful situations, perhaps circumstances beyond our control.  When fear comes, we can feel helpless, disarmed.  But, armed with the Spirit of God, we can be strengthened within and confident that the Lord will hear us as we come before Him.   When we feel powerless, we can go to our source of strength - as the apostle Paul said in 2nd Corinthians, when we are weak, He is strong. 

Jesus taught on the importance of prayer and the power of corporate prayer - groups of believers praying together, in agreement, which releases the Holy Spirit to do His work.  When we agree, when Christians pray with one another in unity, great things can happen.  That's why the National Day of Prayer is so important - it is observed the first Thursday of May, which this year is May 1st.  The theme is "Pour Out to the Lord our God and Be Filled," based on Romans 15:13.  You can find information through our Prayer Resource Page at FaithRadio.org and through the Events section at our website and through our app.